Poor Eva (Tess' daughter/Pirate's sister) has been having an off & on limp in her right foreleg for some months now. She's never limping when she sees a medical professional, and they never find anything. She's seen a regular vet, an orthopedist, 2 chiropractors, and a massage therapist.

So her owner (with maybe a little pressure for me) had her in today for X-rays and a test for Lyme disease. Lyme is relatively unlikely, this isn't a big area for it, but it fits the symptoms. Anyway, I can't read shoulder or elbow X-rays at all, and a radiologist is reviewing them (regular vet couldn't see anything). But while she was at it, they had a shot done of the hips. Look at these awesome hips!

She's about 21 months. I really wish they would find Lyme disease, it's easily treated, and would explain everything. I'm the one that pushed to test for that, because it fits the symptoms so well. But it's not too likely, unfortunately, since the disease isn't that common here, and there is no known tick exposure. (she does go hiking in the woods, though, so it's not impossible)

Still gimpy. On exercise restriction, which she doesn't much like. Her owner was putting off taking her back in to the specialist to come up with a course of treatment, because she had health worries about her older pets, but I think she had an appointment today. Haven't heard the results, yet.

I hope you hear some good news re vet visit today. I know three dogs with shoulder problems right now, two are young, under one year, the third is 10y/o. Vet did rads and gave his expert opinion, 'it is like tennis elbow in people, try swimming them"

If there's anyone interested in how things are with Eva, the orthopedist tried a steroid injection. Her limp got worse. The option they offered was to remove the biceps tendon, a $3000 procedure, and they weren't sure if they would have to do the other side. Plus the whole "cutting things out of the dog".

Owner took her to see a rehab specialist vet (http://www.backontrackvetrehab.com/). This vet doesn't think the biceps tendon is the problem, she thinks it's a symptom of instability in the shoulder. Her diagnosis is right medial shoulder subluxation. I asked, because I was anxious about it, and apparently the vet thinks it's the result of a traumatic event, and not predisposition. A huge relief to me, since I think Eva has a beautiful front, and if it turned out she was predisposed to shoulder injury, I'd have to give up on my own knowledge of structure.

So, she has some exercises to do, which she apparently gets very pouty about, and there is hope of her being able to return to normal activity.

Romeo had biceps tendonitis, and he responded AMAZING to laser therapy. He also had some rehab, with stretches and trick training (a "wave, or high five" is an excellent stretch) while I was away at a conference. He was back to normal when I got home.

I thought his agility career was over too, but 6 weeks of rest and laser therapy and he hasn't had any problems since. Its been about 8 months now... and the little brat still bounces on his front legs waiting for dinner (the most likely cause of his tendonitis).

I would STONGLY recommend laser and rehab before attempting surgery. Just like an orthopedist to want to cut something up...

Misskiwi67 wrote:Romeo had biceps tendonitis, and he responded AMAZING to laser therapy. He also had some rehab, with stretches and trick training (a "wave, or high five" is an excellent stretch) while I was away at a conference. He was back to normal when I got home.

I thought his agility career was over too, but 6 weeks of rest and laser therapy and he hasn't had any problems since. Its been about 8 months now... and the little brat still bounces on his front legs waiting for dinner (the most likely cause of his tendonitis).

I would STONGLY recommend laser and rehab before attempting surgery. Just like an orthopedist to want to cut something up...